I didn't imagine that 10 years later, I'd still be playing RuneScape: an MMORPG whose popularity peaked sometime around 2009. And yet, I really can't help but continue to chug along when I have the time to play here and there. There's just something about the game that keeps me involved with the game - it may be an emotional attachment, but part of me thinks it may be because of all the lessons and life tips I learned from the game, such as those below:
1. Getting a Great Grip on Mental Math
People have always found it strange that I'm able to do really quick mental math with multiples of 28. 28, 56, 84, 112, 140 - it's all because of RuneScape that these numbers come naturally. The game utilizes a 28-slot inventory system, meaning that anybody who invests themselves into the game will quickly learn the tricks to quick mental math before too long.
2. Learning to Properly Set Long-Term Goals
For most of my life, I've been incredibly impatient with setting long-term goals. But thanks to RuneScape's skill mastery system - which can take an average of 150 hours to master one of 27 skills - learning the trick to long-term goal setting becomes a trial by fire. An old friend of mine once told me that "the [first skill mastered] is always the hardest, and the subsequent become easier and easier the more you do it." I never believed him until now, and his quote can also be applied to goals for the real world, too - given a little bit of patience, anything becomes possible.
3. Non-stop Typing Practice
Developing an average of 90 words per minute (WPM) didn't happen overnight. Due to the heavy social aspect of RuneScape, players find themselves chatting on a constant basis with other players, whether it be for trading, cooperation, or for leisure. But no matter the circumstance, typing becomes rote memory, and before too long, the player subconsciously memorizes the locations of keys and the more they play, the better their accuracy becomes.
4. Better Understanding Basic Economics
From an academic standpoint, I didn't take an economics class until my senior year of high school. But much of what I learned in that class was what I taught myself from years of trading on RuneScape's version of the Stock Market: the Grand Exchange. Coming to understand the principles behind things such as supply/demand, scarcity, and market-clearing prices at an early age gave me a jumpstart in understanding the economics that run the world.
5. Friends Don't Have to be Physical
This is, by far, the biggest lesson that's stuck with me since day one. Over the last 10 years, I've met so many wonderful people throughout RuneScape who are, in turn, some of the best friends I've ever had in my life. Whoever said that "real-life" friends are you only friends is a liar: internet friends are just as good, if not better.
